The Well-Tended Perennial Garden The Essential Guide to Planting and Pruning Techniques, Third Edition

96 PruninG Perennials

BASIC DEADHEADING METHODS

How to deadhead depends on the particular growth habit of the plant. The most

common question I hear from people is how far down they should prune.

Sometimes you need to remove individual dead flowers one at a time, or remove

whole clusters of dead flowers, or cut off the entire flowering stalk. Because

deadheading, like other forms of pruning, is so species-specific, it is difficult to

categorize or group plants into neat compartments. A key thing to look for when

deadheading is the presence of new buds or new flowers. If they are present,

deadhead to the new buds or flowers. In the Perennials by Maintenance Needs

chapter, lists 17 and 18, I indicate those perennials that should be deadheaded to

a lateral flower, bud, or leaf and those that should be deadheaded to the ground

or to basal foliage. These lists are intended as general guidelines only, and a few

of the plants could be in either list; consult the Encyclopedia of Perennials for

individual plant requirements. A review of some basic botany in the accompany-

ing drawing may be helpful at this point.

Questions often arise about when to deadhead a plant that has a flower spike

on which the flowers at the bottom of the spike open first, in which case the

flowers at the bottom start to develop into seed while the flowers near the tip

of the spike are still opening. (This flowering pattern is technically termed

indeterminate.) If let go too long, such a plant will often produce rather long

and gangly looking flower spikes, full of seed capsules and with 2 or so little

flowers overwhelmed at the tip. This may be a personal preference, but it is best

not to let things go this long. A rule of thumb would be to deadhead when the

seedpods outnumber the flowers or when the spike is about 70 percent finished

with flowering.

Basic botany for the
perennial plant pruner, here
showing the basic
structures of Shasta daisy
(Leucanthemum
×superbum).

terminal bud

lateral bud

terminal flower head

lateral flower head

lateral leaf

leaf axil

basal foliage